Disclosed herein is a vehicle seat, and particularly a vehicle seat in which a seat cushion and a seat back are stowable at a stowed position formed on a vehicle body floor by pivoting pivot links coupled to the seat cushion.
Vehicle seats stowable at a stowed position formed on a vehicle body floor are already known. Among these vehicle seats, there is a vehicle seat corresponding to a rear seat of a vehicle, capable of being flipped up rearward and stowed in a recessed portion provided on the rear side of the vehicle body floor (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Document No. 4019456 B (“the '456 Document”)).
As a mechanism for stowing the vehicle seat, a pivot link that couples the seat cushion of the vehicle seat and the vehicle body floor and is pivoted with respect to the vehicle body floor is known. By a pivot action of this pivot link, a seated portion including the seat cushion is moved toward the stowed position. In the vehicle seat described in the '456 Document, as shown in FIG. 30, two pivot links 100 are provided on the front side of the seat cushion and two pivot links 100 are provided on the rear side. At the time of stowing the seat, these pivot links 100 are pivoted with respect to the vehicle body floor in synchronization with each other.
In the stowable vehicle seat, normally, the plurality of pivot links 100 is provided as in the '456 Document. However, as a matter of course, these pivot links 100 are required to be arranged at positions such that the pivot links are not brought into contact with each other at the time of pivoting. For stowing of the vehicle seat, it is desirable to stow it compactly. However, a wider installment space has to be ensured depending on an arrangement layout of the plurality of pivot links 100. Thus, compactability of the vehicle seat in a stowed state is not easily realized.
At the time of arranging the plurality of pivot links 100, there is a need for considering a balance. For example, support rigidity by the pivot links 100 is desirably equalized between the one end side and the other end side in the width direction of the vehicle seat.
Regarding arrangement positions of the plurality of pivot links 100, the pivot links are required to be set at such positions that freedom of arrangement is ensured while compacting the vehicle seat in a stowed state, and further, contact between the pivot links 100 or contact between the pivot links 100 and other members are suppressed.
With constituent members of the vehicle, resource saving for environments and weight reduction for fuel efficiency improvement are desired. The pivot links 100 are actuated in accordance with stowing and takeoff of the vehicle seat, and high rigidity is required for long life.
A cushion frame serving as a framework of the seat cushion normally includes a pair of right and left side frames, a front portion coupling member that connects front ends of the right and left side frames, a rod shaped coupling pipe that connects rear ends of the side frames, and a pan frame bridged between upper surfaces of the front end portions of the side frames. Since the pan frame is provided, rigidity of the seat cushion can be maintained.
Since the pan frame covers a front end of the cushion frame up to the vicinity of center, there is a fear that a restriction is set on the design of a mechanism for moving the vehicle seat between a use position and the stowed position. Thus, contact with members forming the mechanism for moving the seat is required to be suppressed and freedom of design of a seat stowing mechanism is required to be increased.
In some vehicle seats stowable to the vehicle body floor side, a gas spring that couples the seat cushion and the vehicle body floor, the gas spring to be pivoted with respect to the vehicle body floor, is attached. The gas spring is formed in such a manner that bias force is always applied to the seat cushion side at the time of seat stowing operation. The gas spring supports the seat cushion from the lower side and assists the seat stowing operation.
When the gas spring biases the seat cushion upward at the time of the use position, seating stability of the seat is improved. However, there is not such a consideration that stowing stability of the seat is improved at the time of the stowed position by utilizing the gas spring.